The present disclosure generally relates to a location and mapping system, and more specifically, to a sensor location and mapping system.
Electrical systems, such as aircraft electrical systems for example, typically include various sensors that detect various surrounding conditions. It is typically necessary to unambiguously identify the sensors in order for data collected by the system to be meaningful and/or to perform proper operation of a corresponding sub-system.
Conventional wired systems typically use a one-to-one connection (i.e. each device is directly connected to data concentrators in a particular manner) which allows the sensor to be identified. The identification, however, is typically performed by manually inputting the location data into the system. This method is cumbersome and susceptible to human error. Further, conventional logical mapping of one or more sensor architectures is determined manual and requires a technician to physically locate the sensor and determine the sensor is correctly located at the proper subsystem and/or component. However, as electrical systems increase in size and complexity, the increased number of sensors included in the overall system renders manually location mapping impractical.
The one-to-one wired connections also implicitly guarantee authentication of a particular sensor since severing an authentic wired sensor and replacing it with a false sensor is sufficiently difficult. Wireless interface systems create an open architecture, which is susceptible to unauthorized external manipulation and the formation and maintenance of authentication of the systems involved in the data transfer. For authentication to be maintained in a wireless system, a means of authenticating the sensors included in the electrical system is desired. Therefore, it is essential that data integrity is maintainable in order for these interfaces to be adopted in safety critical systems.